Perry, William Stevens Bishop 1832 – 1898

PERRY

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/19/2024 at 21:00:45

Source: Decorah Republican May 19, 1898 P 2 C 1

DEATH OF BISHOP PERRY.
Last Wednesday, just as he was sitting down to dinner, as a guest in the home of a parishoner in Dubuque, William Stevens Perry, Bishop of the diocese of Iowa, was smitten with appoplexy, followed by paralysis of one side. On Friday he passed away, in his sixty-seventh year. He was making an official visit to the church in Dubuque at the time.
Bishop Perry was born at Providence, R. I., Jan. 22d, 1832; received a liberal education, in public schools, also at Brown University, but graduated at Harvard College in the class of 1854. Having religious bent, he for a time attended the Theological Seminary of Virginia, but he completed his studies in private. He was ordained deacon in Grace church, Newton, Mass., March 20, 1857, by Bishop Eastburn, and ordained priest in St. Paul’s church, Boston, April 7th, 1858, in which church he remained as assistant minister in 1857-8. His subsequent career was this:
1858 to ’61, rector of St. Luke’s, Nashua, N. H. 1861 to ’63, at St. Steven’s, Portland, Me. 1864 to '69, at St. Michael’s, Litchfield, Conn.; and from 1869, to ’76, at Trinity church, Geneva, N. Y. Also in 1872, he became Professor of History in Hobart College, at the same place. In 1875, when he was elected by a unanimous vote, Bishop of Iowa, he was serving as President of that college.
This nomination was promptly ratified by the House of Bishops, and on Sunday, September 18th, 1876, Dr. Perry was consecrated Bishop, in Trinity church, Geneva, N. Y., by his uncle, Bishop Stevens, of Pennsylvania, assisted by Bishops Coxe, Kerfoot and Bissell, and the Bishop of Montreal.
The following Sunday, Sept. 17, Bishop Perry was in his field of work. That evening he preached from the pulpit of Trinity church, Davenport, his first Iowa sermon being from John VI 44-56.
His services to the diocese covered a period of more than 21 years, in which there was large growth, and while his health remained firm, these were very satisfactory to his people. He was a man of broad culture with a decided literary bent. His published works numbered forty-two volumes, some of them ranking high in churchly lore.
Obsequies were held in Dubuque last Saturday morning, at St. John’s church, conducted by Bishop Tuttle, of St. Louis, a large number of clergy participating. The remains have been taken to Philadelphia for interment beside those of his wife, who died last year. He left no children. A niece, who was for years a member of their household, and who had assumed the family name, is the only near relative.

Transcriber’s Note: Find a Grave shows he is buried in St. James the Less Episcopal Churchyard in Philadelphia, PA.